


Accidents Happen

by weatherflonium



Series: Metall/u/rgy [7]
Category: Metall/u/rgy
Genre: Cars, College, Computers, F/F, IT work, Nerds Talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-29
Updated: 2015-10-29
Packaged: 2018-04-28 18:11:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5100629
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weatherflonium/pseuds/weatherflonium
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Copper helps Platinum with computer issues and they strike up a conversation.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Accidents Happen

Copper yawned, leaning back into the beaten, blue computer lab chair she'd been in for the last two hours. While she was technically at work, all she had to do was watch for hands above the other workstations, and hope she could answer any questions. The last shift of the day didn't see many other students; mostly, the room was quiet, save for the sound of keys and the occasional words drifting in from the hallway. She'd finished her own classwork earlier in the shift, and had taken to passing the time with online games and staring contests with the clock.

As the end of her shift approached, Copper cast one last glance around the room; as she stood to pack, she heard a soft “Excuse me?” from the next row of machines, and a single, pale hand slipped into the air. “I don't think my computer is working.” Taking a deep breath, Copper rounded the desks and strode up towards... Platinum. Oh, Platinum was here. Copper took a few more deep breaths.

Growing up with her family, Copper was used to words like “glamorous” and “elegant”, to say nothing of “beautiful”. Mother attracted such words like moths to a flame; Copper'd grown pretty desensitised to them by this point, though she was well aware they'd never be applied to her. But even with her cynicism, she had to admit they were a good fit for Platinum. Perfectly smooth, wavy, white hair; brilliant blue eyes; a tall, slender, almost sculpted frame; she could easily see Platinum going on to do... whatever her mothers do nowadays with no trouble at all.

“Hello?” Platinum was waving her hand in front of Copper's face.

Copper jumped with an audible “eep!”. “I'm sorry, I was busy... thinking. About things.” _Not technically false._ “Now then... hm, looks like you're locked out... let's see if I can...” Copper leaned in over the computer and quickly opened up a terminal; when it didn't open right away, she slowly slid away from the computer. Only as she did so did she realise how close her face was to Platinum, who was still sitting in the chair. She fought down the urge to jump back and run for it. “This shouldn't be taking this long...” After a full minute of awkward silence, a black-and-white window finally opened, and Copper attempted to type into it; each character took several seconds to appear.

Copper groaned. This would take a while. She looked over at Platinum; she was splitting her stare between Copper and the screen.  _Time to get to work._

* * *

Several slow, slow tests later, Copper groaned in frustration. “I don't know what's wrong here, but I think we'll have to restart it.” Copper looked over to Platinum, taking time to put some distance between them before Platinum had her fulll attention.

“Is there no other way?” Platinum sighed. “Well, I don't think I'm out that much work.” Copper reached over to the computer, held down the front panel switch for a moment, and the screen went black. “Well, thanks anyway.” Platinum smiled at Copper; it was a small, minor gesture, but definitely there. “Wait...” Platinum furrowed her brow for a moment before her face lit up in recognition. “Are you in 8 AM intro chem?”

Copper fought the urge to duck into her sweater. “Y-yes? Maybe?”

“I knew it!” She clapped her hands together, a small, sweet smile lighting up her face. “You're up in the front, right? Always showing up early?”

Copper glanced on the floor, feeling the blush on her face. “Yeah,” she said, awkwardly scratching the back of her neck, “that's me. I'm used to waking up early, so...” Copper shrugged, “There's not much to do in my room around 7:30, and I can always get a good seat if I show up early, so...”

“Ugh, I wish I could do that.” Platinum groaned. “My sister always talked about how she could sleep until noon most days, but I come out here and it's class at 8 or 9 every morning, no breaks.” She ran her hands through her hair, grumbling unintelligibly to herself. “How's college treating you?”

Copper twiddled her thumbs, her attention fixed on a desk on the far side of the room. “Fine, I guess?” She bit her lip.

“I just wish they'd change up the pace a bit.” Platinum stood from the desk and yawned, hands outstretched. Copper stared very intently at the monitor behind her, definitely _not_ looking at her figure. Platinum turned, sitting down on the desk to face Copper. “I mean, how many days do they really need to spend on optimisation problems? It's so _slow_.” After a few seconds of Platinum's stare, Copper realised she was expecting her to say something. Platinum just laughed; a faint, pretty sound, like a bell ringing, and _where did that thought come from_ Copper literally jumped, landing a moment later standing ramrod straight. Platinum tilted her head forward, giving Copper a playful glance. “You don't have to  be _that_ surprised.”

“Ah!” Copper stepped back, bringing up her hands in front of her, palms open, “I wasn't surprised! I didn't think you were stupid or anything! I just, you know, I just couldn't think of something to say, and-!” She flailed her hands around in a series of wild, meaningless gestures, hoping to get across some, or any, kind of point.

“It's okay, I'm pretty much used to it.” Platinum rolled her eyes. “It's amazing how people act when I say I want to be a chemist; I've lost count of all the “but you're so pretty”-s. Like looking a bit fancy's a full-time job.” Copper decided not to mention her mothers, and bit back the urge to correct “a bit fancy” with something more flattering. That'd be a surefire ticket to a new kind of awkward. Thankfully, sensing the pause, Platinum cut in. “What's your major, anyway?”

“Oh...” Copper's eyes jumped right back to the floor. “I'm undecided, actually. I mean, computer science or electrical engineering or something is nice, but I also really liked biology, and then there's the engineering department and they have all the cool big projects, like buildings and machines and things.” Copper nodded faux-decisively. “I'm just sort of taking a lot of everything right now.”

Platinum nodded as Copper spoke. “Yeah, it seems like most everyone's like that now, though you're a little more ambitious.” She shrugged. “I mean, I've always liked chemistry, so it's a no-brainer for me. But if you don't know going in, it has to be hard to narrow it down.” Copper nodded.

Finally, the login page came up on the computer; Copper pointed Platinum to the keyboard, and she quickly logged in to the system. A few clicks later, as she scrolled through a large folder, Platinum sighed. “Damn... looks like I'm out the last hour or so.” She shrugged, pulling the flash drive and stowing it in her purse. “Hey, when're you off?”

Copper's eyes went right back to the floor and she scratched her cheek to try and hide her blush. “...twenty minutes ago.”

“Oh.” Platinum said, staring around the otherwise-empty room. “Oh! Thank you very much, then!” She grabbed Copper's hand and gave it an energetic shake. “I'm sorry to have kept you stuck here so long, then.”

“It's not like I had anything else to do...” Copper muttered quietly to nobody in particular.

“Well that settles it!” Platinum clapped her on the shoulder lightly, and she jumped again. “Come on, early-bird, I can at least get you some dinner!” _Wait, what?_ Copper froze in place. _Was she being asked out?_ “You know the  Italian place in town?” Copper mouthed silent, meaningless syllables and stared at the floor with newfound intensity. “Unless you're busy?”

“No! I'm fine! Very fine! Italian food, yes! Okay!” Copper shouted in quick succession, her face beet red. “I'll take that as a ye, then. Come on, my car's outside.” Platinum reached into her pocked and drew out a small keyring on one finger, which she jangled a few times. “Trust me, you'll love the place. Best pizza of my life.” Platinum was beaming now; Copper followed closely behind her, torn between not wanting to overthink anything, and wanting to overthink every imaginable thing.

S oon enough, Platinum finally stopped next to a  beaten, rusty car; the frame seemed like something salvaged from a war zone. Even as some of its original olive green paint clung valiantly to the sides, from a distance it just looked like a different colour of rust. Copper stared at it, one eyebrow raised.  “...this is your car?”

“Yeah, she's not very pretty, but on my budget you can get looks or guts, but not both.” Platinum pointed over to the far side of the parking lot. “See that guy over there with his two-by-four spoiler and his butchered suspension?” At Copper's blank look, she said, “The red one, with the big piece of wood strapped to the back of the car and the really, really low body.” Copper turned to see the car she was pointing at: it was red, sleek-looking, and very low to the ground, with a large, flat bar fastened to the trunk by two short beams. “He bought looks, or at least he thinks he did. Car's going to break the instant he hits a bump, but he'll get to feel smug for a couple days until he's the laughing stock of some repair place or another.” Copper, now completely lost, simply nodded along until far after Platinum had stopped talking. “You're not much of a car girl, I take it.”

“I... ride in cars?”

Platinum laughed. “Fair enough. Can't expect everyone to be into everything.” She unlocked the passenger side door, held it open for Copper to climb inside, then closed it and walked quickly to the driver's side. She inserted the key, turned it forward, and a roar filled the car. At Copper's surprised look, Platinum just flashed a thumbs-up. “ That's an  LS1  engine. Five-point-seven V8 ; stance boy back there would dream of a plant like this, if he was smart enough to know  what that meant. ”  Platinum turned over to Copper, then stopped at her numb expression. “Right, not a car person, I'm just blathering.” She shrugged. “Remind me to ask about your computer sometime, that's probably fair revenge.”

Copper beamed. “Well, if you're going to ask, I've just got a new X99 board...”

Platinum laughed and kicked the accelerator, pulling the car out of the parking lot.

* * *

“You're home late.” Platinum heard her flatmate's voice as she came in through the door.

“Oh, I just ran into this girl from my chemistry class, and she helped me fix a lab computer, so I took her to dinner.” Platinum said, completely nonchalant. She hung up her coat and wandered into the main room of the apartment, her purse draped over her shoulder. No sooner did she enter than was Nickel staring at her incredulously, her head craned over the armrest of their small couch and her short, dirty blonde hair hanging down towards the floor.

“Plat...” Nickel spoke slowly, her raised eyebrow and bemused gaze now intently focused on Platinum's face. “...did you just accidentally take someone on a date?”

Platinum froze in the doorway. “...no?  I think?” After a long paused, she said, softly, “Did I?”

A loud 'thump' filled the apartment as Nickel fell of the couch,  w racked by  deep, gasping laughter.

**Author's Note:**

> In the original /u/ thread, Copper is Gold and Silver's (maybe adopted?) daughter, with a lot of STEM skill but (in her eyes, anyway) none of her mothers' beauty or charisma. Platinum was the suggestion for pairing her pretty quickly, though CuTi also came up. (CuSn, while mentioned once, lost out to SnPb.) Copper is also something of the "main character": she was the one who started the whole discussion of metalgirls, and the rest just spiraled out from there.
> 
> Platinum's referenced older sister is Palladium, another platinum group metal. Her flatmate is Nickel since platinum is often found in trace amounts in nickel deposits.
> 
> Copper is one of the most ubiquitous metals in the modern world: chiefly used in all manner of electronics, from my apartment's shitty wiring to the integrated circuits in my laptop: therefore, she knows her way around a computer, for good or for ill. (Mamas, don't let your babies grow up to be sysadmins.) Copper's also a biology nut, since copper alloys are biostatic: they prevent the growth of microorganisms, and as such are extensively used in hospitals and laboratories, and are entering wider use for "touch surfaces" to reduce public health risks. This also makes copper a popular material for ship hulls, to reduce the number of things growing on the bottom of a vessel. (So I guess a sequel with Copper taking Platinum sailing is an option, depending on if Copper could get it together enough to ask her.)
> 
> While Copper's a computer geek, Platinum is something of a petrolhead: while not very reactive in of itself, platinum is a prized chemical catalyst, and the greatest international demand for platinum by a fair margin is for use in automotive catalytic converters. Her interest in chemistry is also modeled upon this role: there are many reactions that won't take place without platinum, making it invaluable for industrial chemistry. Platinum is also the least reactive of metals, which is why she seems so calm and together (but is also completely oblivious to Copper's affections). ~~she also has a deep love of action games~~
> 
> One of the greatest disadvantages of being curiosity-taught on most topics is that I don't actually know what an early college chemistry course might cover. I do know of cases with freshmen working on campus IT in their second semester, if their computer science grades are good enough: clearly, this is true in Copper's case.
> 
> I know a lot of car people and a lot of computer people, and I'm honestly not sure which can go on longer about their machines. I've heard more about servers and sedans from some people than I have about their children.
> 
> This didn't get much editing so if you find issues let me know, I just stayed up way too late trying to finish it.


End file.
